Materials Science World Congress

Materials for Microfluidic Devices: Facilitating Control on Small-Scale Technologies

Microfluidics is the technology that is having an impact at the micro and nanoscale in areas like medical diagnostics, drug delivery, and chemical analysis. The selection of the materials used in these devices is highly relevant to the efficiency of devices and their applicability in terms of impact on the flow, chemical compatibility, and the device’s wear.

Polydimethylsiloxane commonly referred to as PDMS is, without doubt, the most popular material used in fabricating microfluidics. PDMS is appreciated for its biocompatibility, transparency, and possibility of fabrication. This results in the tailoring of the microfluidic channel geometry in a short time by soft lithography and hence is ideal for biomedical research in addition to the lab on a chip. However, it has some drawbacks – it readily allows gases to penetrate through and becomes unstable in the long term when exposed to organic solvents.

Another widely used material for manufacturing microfluidics is glass which is preferred mostly in the areas where chemical solutions cannot come into contact with metal parts of the device due to their chemical reactivity and in cases where transparency of the device is required. Specific features that make glass microfluidic devices ideal include high mechanical strength for applications that demand pressure control over fluid flow. Chemically, glass is highly inert, and therefore well-suited for contact with strong solvents and usage in high-temperature production processes.

Polymer-based materials, polycarbonate, and polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) are widely used in the fabrication of microfluidic devices due to their low cost, mechanical strength, and compatibility with large-scale manufacturing. These materials are especially suitable for single-use devices, commonly utilized in a diagnostic procedure. Compared to other soft lithography techniques, thermoplastics are relatively easy to produce in microfluidic designs through injection molding or hot embossing to address the scalability of the technology for commerce.

The continuing innovation in microfluidic components is driving new material options and other refinements, such as the use of biodegradable polymers and nanomaterials. These materials improve the ability to construct microfluidic devices that are not only more flexible, speedy, and application-specific in the health care and research capacity.